Tales from The Trenches Archive

Teehee

A little over four years ago, I was working in QA at a large publisher testing a music title of note. We were working 7 AM to 7 PM Monday through Friday, and 7 AM to 4 PM on Saturday for about four months straight.

About a month into this overtime crunch, we got a build that implemented microphone input for the vocal sections (up till this point we had to use debug commands to automatically score 100%). I’m singing obnoxiously loud on a crowded floor where two testers share each cubicle when a lead comes up behind me and tells me through half-hidden chuckles to “shut the fuck up.”

Still singing, I pause the game to turn around, only to realize that the game is looping about one second of what I was singing into the mic when I paused it. Nodding to my lead, I turn around, unpause the game, giggle, make a fart noise in the mic, and then immediately pause the game. Much to my excitement, the pause screen is looping the fart noise, creating an infinite fart.

The smile I had was one of pride as I watched the ensuing wave of laughter billow through the packed floor, leaving productivity utterly demolished, as if my fart noise was at first wind blowing through an open field, only to become a fart tornado of destruction.